Understanding the Job Market for PhDs

According to Inside Higher Ed, the survey found that US universities awarded over 54,000 research doctorates in 2014 – the most ever. But fewer of those newly-minted doctorates are finding employment in their fields. In 2014, 61.4% of all PhDs indicated that they had either employment (or a postdoc) at the time of graduation, down from 69.5% in 2009. The numbers are lowest in the humanities (54.3%, down from 63.3%) – but the job market contraction is occurring across the board.

The report also includes data on student debt and diversity, along with other measures (including average salaries in different fields, etc.). Here are some highlights:

• Women earned 46% of doctorates in 2014, continuing an upward trend.

• As the number of STEM doctorates increases, women’s share is increasing. From 1994-2014, the number of women earning STEM doctorates doubled, while the number of men receiving STEM degrees increased 26%.

• The proportion of doctorates awarded to African Americans increased from 4.1 percent to 6.4 percent between 1994 and 2014. Over the same period, the rate for Hispanics or Latinos rose by 3.3 percent to 6.5 percent. (However, as Inside Higher Ed points out, these gains are over the long run, and year-to-year numbers haven’t shown much change; also, the numbers of doctorates awarded in STEM fields are still extremely small, making faculty diversity an ongoing challenge.)

• On average, students in the social sciences and humanities are more likely to borrow money and carry greater student loan debt than students in the sciences.